Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays everyone! It's been awhile since we've checked in, I'm going to stop apologizing for that cuz it happens. Anyway, we've been keeping busy. Eric survived his long bike trip, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with Pop Pop, Grandmom, Aunt B, Uncle Mo, Uncle Al, Tata and Bahareh at Aunt B's house. Eric ran in the Del Ray Turkey Trot in the morning and was ready to stuff himself full when it was time for dinner.

That's Eric waving as he pushes a sleeping Molly in the Turkey Trot.

Caroline & Pop Pop cheering on the racers!

We've been taking advantage of the local festivities for the holidays this month. We visited the White House and saw the big tree with lots of trains around it as well as a tree from every state. We went to the Old Town Scottish Day Parade, their Christmas parade. Lots of kilts and lots of dogs! We stopped into Union Station to see the decorations and warm up after our "photo shoot" for our Christmas card. I don't think there's been a colder, windier day since we've been here! The girls were troopers and withstood the arctic conditions for promises of hot chocolate and cookies! If you look close enough at our faces, you'll see the rosy cheeks and tears in our eyes whipped up from the wind!

Molly and Santa at the Del Ray tree lighting.

The Ros' & the Sultzbaugh's at the Scottish Day Parade.

Jenn & Caroline at the White House Holiday Tree.

We also visited the Serth's in Del Ray for their annual tree lighting. The neighborhood looked beautiful, there was a light snow falling and they had the avenue lit with luminaries. We serenaded Santa with "Here Comes Santa Claus" , he arrived in a police motorcade to a couple dozen children cheering for him. He promptly swooped up Molly, counted down from 10 and lit the tree with her help. She just kind of looked at him and didn't say much. Then we all paraded down the avenue with Santa and the kids were able to get some one on one time with the big man and tell him what they wanted for Christmas. Molly's request was "lots of presents!" while Caroline had a much more specific list, being a veteran of Santa's lap.



Both Eric and Caroline are ready for a break from school. We're looking forward to spending some time with out of town friends next weekend before heading to Pennsylvania to celebrate Christmas, then on to South Bend for Tia and Mimi's birthdays as well as New Year's! We've got lots of fun stuff planned for both visits, cow farm tours, sleigh rides, visiting the chocolate factory and a sledding party! I'll try to be good about getting pictures so I can share more. I treated myself to a new lens for Christmas to replace the one I cracked in October, so I'm hoping to get lots over the holidays!

I Have a Gone Tooth!!

This picture doesn't show the big hole in the bottom row of teeth, but she's quite proud to show it off anyway!

Wow! I'm bad at blogging! I'm quite a hypocrite too! I have a few blogs that I check just about daily and will get annoyed when they go a long time without posting something new, and yet I go almost a month with nothing. Oh well.
Let's see, where did we leave off...I am a victim of pregnancy brain. We've had a fun couple of weeks here, Eric and I were in Boston a few weekends ago for my cousins wedding and we got to visit with Katie a few times. We had a blast and it was perfect weather, without the girls in tow, we were able to do a lot of walking and enjoy the city.

In front of the island in the book, Make Way for Ducklings.

Playing pooh sticks in the park, can you tell we miss the monkeys?!

We had a wonderful Halloween with several families, as Caroline puts it "We had our own parade!" We really did, I think we had 9 kids and a dozen parents/grandparents. Joanna was kind enough to let us all descend on her and our old neighborhood. We even trick or treated at our old house so Eric could slyly get a look in and check out the tenants. The girls came away with way too many sweets, most of which are still in their loot bags sitting on top of the TV. I think they've forgotten them, which is good because Mommy has quite a sweet tooth with this pregnancy. With every pregnancy really. Who am I kidding...all the time!

My Fancy Nancy's! Before they had any sugar!

We went to a birthday party of a friend on Saturday and just before we started to sing, Caroline pulled out her first tooth and stole the spotlight! She was very excited. And to top it off, Mimi came in for a visit on Saturday night and Caroline was able to show her the "gone tooth"! We had a great time with my mom, we explored Great Falls, MD on Sunday before having a few friends over for Eric's chili and some pie and cake to celebrate his 35th birthday. She got to spend some QT with the girls on Monday as Caroline had off of school for conferences. We hit some old favorites in Old Town on Tuesday and she was off on Wednesday.



Eric is going to bike the C&O Canal this weekend with a couple of friends. It's a little over 180 miles in three days. The fall leaves are beautiful right now and hopefully the weather will stay warm for them. The girls and I are looking forward to a relaxing weekend here and Caroline's last soccer game for the season.

Catching Up

Caroline's soccer game this past weekend. Her arms give the illusion that she's hustling, but come on!

It's once again been too long in between blogs. It has been very difficult finding things to write about and not completely giveaway the fact that I'm nauseous 24/7 and completely exhausted. This is due to the fact that I have charming child #3 in the belly! And not to be outdone by the older sisters, this one is making pregnancy REALLY fun! We're due next April so if the poor thing is a girl, all of Molly and Caroline's clothes will fit great and she won't get any new clothes until she's 20. We really are excited, I just happen to be writing this on one of my worst days yet. Caroline hugs my belly every morning before she leaves for school and Molly is starting to catch on that something is different. It'll be interesting to see how Molly feels next April, we are really enjoying our days together and that attention will be hard to give up.
So big news aside, we've had a great couple of weeks. I went to Dallas and met up with some MOPS friends from Chicago. I had a wonderful time, sober and all, and attended a couple of great seminars that I will hopefully be able to use the information from someday. Eric's mom, Grandmom, came into town to help with the girls while I was away, and they all went up to Pop Pop in Pennsylvania for the weekend. We returned Sunday in time for Caroline's game and some time on the playground here at the lovely Chez Oakwood.
We're heading out to Ocean City this weekend with Eric's parents, Aunt B and Uncle Mo. The weather is supposed to be nice and warm, so I'm looking forward to some time in the sand with the girls. Unfortunately, lil Pumpkin doesn't like seafood, so I won't be taking advantage of the obscene amounts of delicious crab. Oh well.

Go Cheetahs!

Caroline's first game, she was actually hustling at this point!

Her first corner kick!

Molly cheering on the team from the sidelines.

We had Caroline's first soccer game scheduled for Saturday, unfortunately the other team bailed so we had a scrimmage. The kids had a great time and didn't notice the difference. It was hilarious to watch the parents, I'll have to turn the camera to the sidelines next weekend. Everyone got into it, cheered and moaned like it was the World Cup. Caroline had not shown much energy at practice the two weeks prior to the game, so we were thrilled that she hustled quite a bit during the game, even if it was just a practice game. We celebrated with smoothies afterwards, then the Falcone's invited us for dinner on Saturday night. It was great to catch up with them and see how much Ava's grown! Here are the girls enjoying popsicles after dinner.




Sunday was spent here at home, the Oakwood at resident appreciation day. We had donuts for breakfast and then a bounce house and chicken dinner in the afternoon! It was a relaxing weekend overall, which is what we needed. Both girls are battling colds, so they got some needed rest. This week has already gone too quickly, we've had more dance class and soccer. Caroline had her first experience with homework last night. It wasn't pretty. She was not happy that she had to spend her time writing big M's and little m's while Molly got to play with clay, but she was very proud when it was returned today with a big star!

Molly's hair is finally long enough for pigtails!

Flitting around dance class.

Not much to report...

So I thought it would be easier to come up with things to blog about, but no news is good news for us! Not much excitement around here lately, we've just been enjoying ourselves and relaxing a bit. I've actually forgotten the camera for most of our recent outings and didn't have many pictures to post, and really, who wants to just read the blabber, it's the pictures that are fun!
We're continuing to settle in here. This is the conversation every afternoon here...
Me: How was school today?
Caroline: Good.
Me: Did you do anything fun/exciting/new/adverb of choice?
Caroline: I forget.

You would think the girl who can talk nonstop, for hours on end, would report every detail of her day. But no. I ask more specific questions, but am usually ignored or brushed off. It's not really surprising considering I have the same conversation with Eric each night. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

We spent the weekend enjoying college football and the Taste of Falls Church. It was hot and muggy, so that was enough of the outdoors for us. We finally got to catch up with the Finkel's on Sunday night. They had us for an amazing dinner in their beautiful new home. They don't know it yet, but when the walls of this apartment start closing in on us in the winter, we'll be heading there a lot. They're just down the street!

Caroline has had two days of full day kindergarten and is handling it better than I thought she would. She and Molly started their dance classes yesterday and today. Caroline really enjoyed the freestyle parts and Molly was amazingly attentive. Molly's class isn't a mommy-and-me format, so I wasn't sure how she would do, but she loved it! And I loved sitting outside watching her!

Maty, Molly & Caroline snuggling up on the couch after running in from the rainy bus stop!

We spend most afternoons playing in the Fancy Nancy trunk and something like this is usually the result, princess dress & wand accompanied by some trendy elephant ears!

First Bus Ride and UAB Sorrows

Here is the ecstatic little kindergartner waiting at the bus stop on Thursday morning.

Well, our first two days of bus rides went very well. Caroline was really excited walking to the bus stop on Thursday, but became a little timid when the big yellow bus rolled up. However, by the time she got home that afternoon, she came bounding off with a new friend, The New Ava, not to be confused with the Old Ava. She was very excited and asked if she could sleep at kindergarten, she loves it that much!

Molly and Caden waiting for the bus to bring Caroline home.

Friday was just as exciting for her and while she was at school, our UAB shipment arrived. That was the 600 pounds we were allowed to ship here, however two clowns packed it up and it was not pretty when it arrived here. One of the boxes had fallen apart, so the two delivery guys so kindly "repacked it". Right. It was just depressing. This was the 600 pounds of our stuff that we deemed worthy to ship here, so it was the favorites. And these guys treated it like trash. Needless to say, I'm going to make it my mission that the State Dept. stops using the local Chicago company that originally packed it and these buttheads will know why.

The repacked box.

Caroline received some makeup kits for her birthday and I finally gave in to the begging and pleading to play with them. This is her work!

Sweet Molly has to do everything her big sister does, so I put a little "makeup" on her. I used a big glitter filled poof and she thought she was all that.

Big day after the Big Move!

I'm finally making this blog public and figured I'd start off with our big day yesterday. Both Eric and Caroline had their first day of school. Caroline started kindergarten and Eric started language training. Eric took a couple of tests and finished early, so there's not much to report for him. Caroline only had an hour of class yesterday and today, they're REALLY easing them into it. Tomorrow through next week, she has half days, BUT she'll ride the bus for the first time tomorrow! Then she'll start full time.
I was completely unaware of this strange new schedule and had her lunch packed, ready to drop her off for the day yesterday. Not so fast! It was more of a meet and greet the teacher, explore the classroom (find the potty) and practice the fire drill. Meanwhile, the PTA sponsored a coffee for those of us that didn't want to make the trek home, only to turn right back around and pick up the munchkins. It was the same drill today. Fortunately, both days, she left school very excited to return the next day, in fact, disappointed to be leaving so early.
She's admitted being a little nervous about the bus tomorrow, but she jumps up and down every time we bring it up. Molly and I are looking forward to a quiet morning, exploring the laundry process here and maybe some time in the activity center.
I'll try to post an update on the bus and Eric's schooling tomorrow!

Hello, My name is Jenn and I'm addicted to Guitar Hero

Molly finally enjoying some fresh air on a balmy 40 degree day!

Caroline and Grandma Pat on a scooter ride.

See! This is what they do while I play guitar hero! They wear diapers on their heads!
BAD MOMMY!!

And this is what I look like if you interrupt me playing guitar hero!

I am a neglectful mother. I can't seem to put down the fake guitar. I mastered the easy level weeks ago. Thankfully, I haven't dedicated as much time to it since moving on to the medium level, so it's taking a bit longer. However, the devil challenged me today. And beat me twice.

I realize that everyone needs hobbies or down time to relax. But my hobby has become an obsession. It wasn't until we were at our local grocery store this week and Pat Benatar was belting "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" over the store's speakers and C shouted "Hey Mommy, it's your guitar hero song!" that I realized my recreational toy was starting to warp her young, impressionable mind. Then tonight, she repeated "I wanna rock and roll, all night. And Party everyday!" at least 247 times in the tub, until my husband was whistling along with her.

I've corrupted the entire family! I must find a 12-step program to free me from this terrible habit. OR Lou must suffer the wrath of my whammy bar!